Why traveling abroad with kids is so important | NoMAd NiNo

August 15, 2016

This summer we will fly the friendly skies one more time in search of our next adventure. After many trips to Europe and seeing our fair share of museums and cathedrals, we have decided to try something different. Instead of seeing beautiful man-made creations, we’ve decided to see what God has created. Where are we headed? Costa Rica! That’s right, we are heading to the rain forests and volcanoes of Guanacaste. It will be our first trip to Central America.

Growing up I never really knew much about the world around me. I learned things in social studies class but most of it was just being forced to learn dates and timelines, we were never really able to understand how other people actually lived. I always had an interest in history so naturally I did well in the subject, most of my classmates always seemed to be bored when the teacher spoke.

“It’s when the whole world is your school, instead of school being your whole world.” ~ Gerzon

It wasn’t till I started traveling that I was able to see things differently. I was able to learn and grow as a person. When you see how others live, you see the differences first hand from the way you have always known life to be. This opens up the mind to countless options and possibilities. Can you imagine showing a growing child all these different ways of life? This actually enables your children to begin to create their own lifestyle by picking and choosing from all that they have seen and learned. Doesn’t this sound like a much better plan than having your children molded into someone else’s image?

I truly believe that because of our travels my young daughter already has a vast knowledge of many things that go far beyond the town we live in. She often says things like “Can we go to Poland” or “That’s not how they do it in Italy.” She eats things like octopus and escargot but frowns upon the iconic hotdog. She’s a bilingual artist that can locate just about any country on a map. I know college graduates that couldn’t find where they live on earth if their life depended on it.

Some of you with young children might want to play it safe and stay within your comfort zone of travels. You may want a change of scenery but aren’t willing to immerse yourself in a new culture. I can honestly tell you that you are short changing yourself and your children. There will always be time for theme parks and plenty of other things that many consider “the norm.” There’s nothing wrong with that. I just don’t consider those as end goals. To me they are considered recess time from a school we call earth.

We’re looking forward to see how Costa Rica will add to our continually evolving ideas. We use and share these ideas to create our own “hacked” lifestyle for ourselves and hopefully for those around us. Although we may all be of different race and religion, one thing we all have in common is that we are all Earthlings on the same planet. We should explore it as often as we can so we may learn from one another. I believe this is the best way to grow as adults and better yet as children.

It’s great to see that you are giving your kids all these eye-opening experiences but I must say, I admire you dedication. Travel can be stressful at the best of times but with kids as well, I’m not totally sure I could function. Regardless however, well done and I’m sure they will be thankful for it when they grow up and have all these wonderful memories to look back on

I really hope to travel lots with our (yet to be born) children. You learn so much and I think if you can learn other cultures & different ways of life from a young age, you become a more well-rounded, less judgemental & more inquisitive person. Travel is good for everyone!